The current way of life in industrialised countries may be characterised by less physical work and increased consumption of fat, carbohydrates and proteins, resulting in the energy intake exceeding energy expenditure. This shift in the energy balance causes storage of energy in the body in form of fat, leading to an increase of overweight and obesity, due to the long-term energy imbalance associated with lifestyle.
The percentage of overweight people increases year by year and obesity is a disease that is reaching epidemic proportions in some countries. The health risks associated with overweight and obesity are numerous and it has been shown that these conditions contribute to morbidity and mortality of individuals suffering from diseases such as hypertension, stroke, diabetes mellitus type II, gallbladder disease and ischaemic heart disease. The cosmetic perspective of body fat is also to be considered as the demand for dietary supplements or medicine to gain or maintain a leaner body is constantly increasing.
A common strategy for reducing weight or for maintaining a normal body weight has been to reduce the average energy intake by lowering the dietary fat intake. Numerous low fat, no fat, reduced fat and “light” types of feed, food and beverage products and diets have appeared on the marked. However, the overall energy content of such products are often the same as in traditional feed, food and beverage products, because the content of carbohydrates, such as sugars, in such low fat products is increased in order to compensate for the fat with regard to taste and structure.
To assist in weight loss some people choose to limit their food energy intake by substituting the sugar with other sweeteners with little or no energy, the so-called diet products. Often, the traditional sugar in such products is substituted with artificial sweeteners such as high intensity sweeteners. This allows the consumer to eat the same foods they would normally do while allowing them to lose weight and avoid other problems associated with excessive energy intake. However, studies have shown that, rather than promoting weight loss, the use of e.g. diet drinks resulted in increasing weight gain and obesity.
Thus, although there are numerous products on the marked which intend to assist individuals in loosing weight, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has continued to increase. One of many reasons for this might be that the low fat and diet products are far too often abandoned by the individual due to a reduced taste sensation, palatability and/or structure.
An additional factor which may lead to overweight or mal-nutrition is the busy modern lifestyle. Often people resort to eating less wholesome fast-food for the sake of convenience, for instance when there is no time to prepare a healthy home cooked meal. In particular, such fast-food products are often too rich in fat and carbohydrates.
An alternative approach to improving the management of body weight and overall health would be the development of functional foods, food ingredients and dietary supplements, which would assist in reducing the incentive to eat and/or postponing the need to eat until a proper meal is available. Development of such products would be greatly facilitated by the identification of substances having the ability of reducing or postponing the sensation of hunger and/or appetite and perhaps at the same time being able to increase or prolong the feeling of satiety, In order to be successful, such functional foods must have similar qualities in terms of palatability, taste and structure as traditional foods. Similarly, it is imperative that such dietary supplements and food ingredients do not negatively affect the quality of the diet or the food products. Accordingly, there is a great need for identifying substances having such qualities while being suitable for consumption.